You put more pressure on yourself when you are the captain. You want to be the best player in the team. But if you make one [mistake], then maybe you put a bit more pressure on yourself then because you think 'I am the captain and I cannot afford that'.

Vermaelen has made a catalogue of errors since being made captain. #MUFC dominant since van Persie's goal. #AFC need to settle quickly.

Wenger softened the blow by disclosing how professional Vermaelen was in dealing with such an ego-crushing moment.

"He [Vermaelen] is a great man and I didn't make him captain by coincidence," Wenger said, per Sky Sports. "He took it in a remarkable way [when he lost his place]."

Yet it was still confounding that Vermaelen, a bit-part player at the Gunners in a FIFA World Cup year, did not force a transfer away in the January window.

Then he had up until February 27 to wrap up a move to a Russian club (Russia operates on a different window schedule) since FC Zenit wanted to sign him, per Simon Jones at the Daily Mail.

The final say was, however, out of Vermaelen's control.

If Wenger was willing to block Nicklas Bendtner's transfer away from the Gunners last summer, per Danish newspaper BT (h/t Kent Hedlundh at Sky Sports), there was no way Vermaelen, the back-up centre-back who can slot in as an emergency left-back, was going to leave in January.

According to Vermaelen's agent Alex Kroes, Napoli and a host of clubs want to sign his client, but a decision will only be made after the World Cup, per CalcioMercato.com (h/t Football Italia).

Djilobodji, a 6'4" and 181-pound left-footed centre-back playing for Nantes, could be a viable option to replace Vermaelen at Arsenal.

Positives

Djilobodji is a towering presence for Nantes, leading the club in headers won (78).

Source: Ligue1.com.

At one point of the season, he was winning 89 percent of headers, a rate that has since decreased to 78, per Squawka.com.

It is worth pointing out that roughly 30 percent of the players who received work permits this summer did not meet the standard criteria. We should also examine how the current work permit system operates.

Two prospective Arsenal players whose work permit applications were not rubber-stamped ended up turning into world-class players.

"We wanted to take him [Petr Cech] before he went to Rennes but we could not get a work permit," Wenger said, per the London Evening Standard (h/t Patrick Goss at Sky Sports). "Then last year, Chelsea did well. They bought him very early."

"He [Toure] had no work permit and was too young. We tried to wait until when he was in Belgium, we tried to get him a European passport," Wenger said, per Chris Harris at Arsenal's official website. "He was not patient enough and left for Metalurh Donetsk."